Copyright Law Review

Jason copies the entire last chapter from the final Harry Potter book to his commercial blog without any additional commentary. Since he only used part of the work, Jason would be protected by fair use.

• True
• False

When does copyright take effect?

• When you file the paperwork with the government
• as soon as you come up with the idea
• as soon as the idea is in a tangible form
• as soon as you tell someone about your idea

Which of the following would be a creative work protected by copyright?

• A list of all the U.S. zip codes

• A portrait of your family

• An idea for a new gadget

• The name of your pet dog

What is the main purpose of copyright?

• To protect the user of a creative work

• To protect the buyer of a creative work

• To protect the creator of a creative work

• To protect the copier of a creative work

Works without copyright notices (for example, “© Copyright 2018 The Student Times”) are not validly copyrighted and can be freely used.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Copyright notices are not required on works created after 1989. Unless you specifically know otherwise, you should assume that all works are copyrighted whether they have a copyright notice or not

A work can be copyrighted without being formally registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Formal registration is not required for a copyright to be valid, though registration does bring additional safeguards and is a good idea for “valuable” works

Copyright protection for some works — once validly secured — lasts forever.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

A copyright lasts for a fixed period of time. While the length of a work’s copyright will depend, among other things, on when the work was created and/or published, all copyrights eventually expire. Once a copyright lapses or expires, the work falls into the public domain and can be used without permission of the owner. Of course, you should still give proper credit to the author.

A school always owns the copyright to work created for school-sponsored student media by student journalists.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Copyright ownership in the student media setting is a complicated issue. Generally, however, unless student journalists are compensated and treated as regular school employees while working for student media, current law suggests that students, not the school, will retain ownership in the works they create. Because of the uncertainties of copyright ownership, student media organizations do themselves a favor by establishing formal copyright ownership agreements prior to publication.

Plagiarism and copyright infringement are the same thing.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Plagiarism is not a legal term. It is a term for an academic crime, usually defined by professional or academic bodies. Simply stated, a plagiarist is a person who poses as the creator of words, ideas or methods that are not his own. By contrast, a person infringes on another’s copyright when he makes unauthorized use of material that is protected by copyright.

As long as you accurately credit or attribute a work (for example, “AP Photo/Johnny Doe”) you cannot be held liable for copyright infringement.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Simply giving the copyright owner credit for his or her work is not enough to avoid copy right infringement. Explicit permission is required.